Mr. keitz

Tue, 4 May 2010 18:42:48 -0400

Today was my last visit to the SFRC with my mentor, Patty from PoliteDogs in West Palm Beach, alongside me. Next time, I’m finally on my own (gulp). The good news is, the last month I’ve gotten very comfortable with the staff, have made friends with the Major (I can’t really say we’re friends, but it’s quite a loving business relationship seeing as how he’s a gator and I’m a ‘Cane), and impressed an officer when I asked her how her weekend was with her husband because it was their anniversary.

After two morning lessons I was running late, luckily so was patty, but made time to swing through mcdonalds for some chicken nuggets. As I drove out where civilization ends, driving with one hand and dipping nuggest in honey on my lap, I wondered if any of my “guys,” as I refer to them now, would smell the mcdonalds. You know what I mean --everything from Mickey D’s has a distinct oder....so I began to feel bad that if they did smell I had eaten chicken nuggets that It would make them sad. I can’t help but feel bad for the guys in my program, although rightfully so they are serving time for their varied crimes. When I made my initial visit last month I told myself I wouldn’t come home and search the public records to learn of their crimes. But as the weeks have gone by, curiosity got the best of me and now I have a small stack of papers here on my desk with each of their FBI poses...that’s Mr. Keitz above. He’s in for 2nd degree murder, is due for release 3/17/2027 and has a butterfly tattoo on his left breast. No, I haven’t seen the tattoo...that’s just what his record says.

Yet, despite their history, these guys are already winning a little piece of my heart. I can’t help it...I’m naturally a people lover. It’s hard to look at their mugshots and not cringe, but inside the walls of dorm E there are 6 quickly growing golden retrievers that turn these guys into someone like your grandfather. As a matter of fact, some of them are grandfathers and have been writing to their grandkids who don’t believe they’re allowed to have a dog. Right now we’re arranging for pictures to be taken with the guys and their puppies, but like any institution there are rules and regulations that have be tediously followed before anyone can get anything (sigh). The good news is the kong balls I brought last week were approved and today the guys showed me how well their puppies were retrieving. When one of the puppies brought the ball back and dropped it at Fishbone’s feet, he praised the puppy. Ah HAH! My first opportunity to correct something and be assertive. So far I’ve been hanging back, watching and observing patty. You see..it’s less about the dog training (that part is easy!) than it is about the dynamics dealing with the guys. When I told Fishbone that he wasn’t allowed to let his puppy drop anything, ever (instead they need to train the puppies to give) he started to make excuses and say that Patty had told him it was ok. Knowing it wasn’t, and feeling confident, I quickly said “It doesn’t matter who told you what, because as of next Friday I’m the only one who makes the rules.” Oh how quickly he realized that this doggie deeva means business! The best part of the visit, by far, was seeing little Duval puppy hold his bowl in his mouth. It’s obvious that his trainer have worked hard since my last visit. Or was it when Owens showed me the worm he saved....yes....THAT kind of worm (yuck!) as if I wouldn’t believe him that his puppy, Fisher, had them. Or maybe it was seeing the awesome artwork that Frankenberry does of the one female puppy in the group, Mallory. Next time I visit I’m going to take in a photo of my and oxford to have Frankenberry do a sketch. And as for Mr. Keitz? The one with Captain Tony the quickly growing big boy who is now at 47lbs and is only 5 months old. God bless his family for sending him so many wonderful articles, web screen shot print outs and other things related to service dogs. I am sure I will get very attached to all of the guys but so far, Mr. Keitz is in the running for my favorite ---mainly because he smiles, laughs, calls me sweetheart and is a proof that no matter what your situation is there is always something to feel blessed for and good about. Life is never that bad.

Reception? where’s the soda?

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:02:28 -0400

Seeing palm trees while driving in the car is an everyday occurrence here in Miami-Dade county. After nine years of living here, I think I’ve reached the point where I just don’t see them anymore. They blend into the backdrop of our beautiful blue sky, palm fronds blowing gently in the gulf stream breeze. It’s just another day in Miami. But then, my heart starts to race and I turn off my radio and roll down my windows. As I cross under the turnpike on NW 41st Street it’s like Miami as I know it ends and I am somewhere else. For two miles there is nothing in sight except for an occasional pile of rocks, and out in the distance there is a large complex. I see a snowy egret meandering through some sawgrass - but it is just me and him on this road.

When I finally arrive at my destination I saw palm trees in a way I’ve never seen them before - juxtaposed against barbed wire, a command tower, and more barbed wire. The sign reads “Welcome to the South Florida Reception Center.” Reception? I think to myself. There is nothing reception-y about this. Established in 1991 to house adult male inmates, the South Florida Reception Center is Miami’s long-term prison. The south campus, where I was headed, houses only adult males over the age of 55yrs. Population? 889. Their crimes range from check fraud to 1st degree murder. Their sentences from 20 years to life. The facility is staffed by 179 officers, who are always watching. After clearing security and entering the prison, I felt more nervous being watched by the officers than I was by the inmates. And then, we entered the dorm where the puppies were living.

Six, gorgeous, wiggly golden retriever puppies! Their handlers are twelve inmates (two are assigned to one puppy) who applied and were selected to participate in the first ever prison pups program in Miami. And me? I’m still in shock that I was there, and am getting to chance to be a part of something so incredible. For the next eighteen months the puppies will be raised by the inmates under the guidance of weekly training sessions from a professional dog trainer (that’s where I come in!) so that when they leave the prison they will be ready to serve a deserving disabled individual for the rest of their life. Even at 15 weeks, the puppies are already responding incredibly to the 24/7 attention, training and care they are receiving from their inmate handlers. The program’s aim is not only to produce excellent and dependable service dogs, but to help in the rehabilitation process of the inmates. Although some in the group will never return to society, having another being to care for ---one that will love you unconditionally and not judge you, is a powerful thing. In a life where routine and control are the name of the game, the prison pups program encourages the inmates to think for themselves again as they must stay on their toes to properly housebreak, groom and train their puppies.

I spent three hours at the prison shadowing a trainer that has been running the prison pups program at Sago Palm Prison in West Palm Beach. After an hour in the prison I began to relax and was able to do some demonstrations for my new human students, teaching them to have their puppies heel nicely then stop and sit. At first I was nervous about what kind of interactions I could have (physically) with the inmates because in my group classes we’re very hands on! I touch my students, they touch me, I touch their dog, I high five them....etc. The director of the New Horizons Service Dogs, Janet Severt, was also present to check in on the progress of the puppies since their delivery five weeks ago. It’s Janet’s hard work and passion for producing quality service dogs (who her organization donates to persons in need) that has allowed this special program to come to Miami, and to get to know her and work with her organization I am truly blessed.

So! On Monday I will be traveling to West Palm Beach to visit Sago Palm Prison for more training (my training!) and next Tuesday will be my second visit to SFRC-S (South Florida Reception Center South). Last night I could hardly sleep, thinking about the men I met. Thinking about my life and my freedom and how lucky I am to have had a family that stressed the importance of staying out of trouble, staying in school, and having direction. Thinking about how emotional it will be 18 months from now when the puppies in my class graduate, thinking about how my confidence and training skills are going to improve being a part of this program, thinking about the great stories I’ll have to write about, but mostly --thinking about love and the power of animal companionship.

Here’s a video link not related to the program I’m participating in, but a true representation of what prison pups programs are all about. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JT6BOrKy_A

Dogs don’t TRY to bite, they either bite you, or they don't.

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:45:49 -0500

Dogs, by nature, are non-confrontational animals. They don’t wake up in the morning and plot out a strategy about how their going to put you in your place, dominate you or keep control of your household. Although there are still plenty of dog owners and trainers out there who are hanging onto traditional thinking, dominance theory is dead just like that hideous yellow and orange sofa your mom had in 1975. Just like humans in business or in our relationships with our friends, we’re all leaders in different situations, and all “submissive” in other situations. I know plenty of men (not to stereotype) that are high power CEO’s but come home to be total pussycats around their wives. Why? Because no one wants to be in charge all the time! Same applies to your dog.

There are very few dogs out there (just like there are very few mass murderers in the grand scheme of things) who are out to get people for the simple act of getting and hurting someone. Usually, those dogs were abused, severely under socialized or punished or teased excessively and unnecessarily. So why am I telling you this? Because today, I didn’t almost get bitten by a dog --today, I was clearly and accurately warned by a very intelligent chow/lab mix.

Although to an untrained eye a dog that growls and air snaps, or one that does what us trainers call a “level 1” bite, looks quite scary and aggressive, to me I’m relieved that this type of dog is still being courteous enough to wave a big white flag in front of my face. Yes, you read it right --a WHITE flag. As in, I come in peace, I surrender, I don’t want to hurt you, back off so I can throw in the towel please. Today, when working a very high-level resource guarding dog I didn’t almost get bitten, I was handled a very large white flag.

See, here’s the thing. A resource guarding dog isn’t aggressive, and shouldn’t be labeled as one. Aggression comes in many different forms, just like anger. You’re allowed to get angry at certain things right? So what gives you right to say that your dog has to feel happy ALL the time. In this particular dog’s case, he’s convinced that the world will end if he has to surrender a food item, or occasionally a piece of paper or tissue. My job is to change his perception through clicker training, but no one said it would be easy. Unlike an average dog owner, I know when I’m pushing a dog too far and am trained to identify stress signals that indicate a dog is feeling uncomfortable. But even when you’re being ever so carful, there’s always the chance that a dog will hit his breaking point and hand you a white flag fast than you could ever hope to be.

When he turned around to jump up and lunge at me, I was terrifed. But let’s make another thing clear: dog’s can’t sense your fear. They don’t have ESP! But what they do have is a keen eye for body language, and often times a really scared person actually provides body posturing of a confrontational and threatening person. Think about it for a second. When you’re scared, you freeze in place. When a dog is starting a confrontation, his body gets ridged to indicate to another dog he is alert and is not afraid to rumble. When you’re scared, your eyes kind of go wide and you generally freeze in fear staring at whatever it is that frightens you. When a dog initiates a confrontation, he provides hard eye contact and a direct, unwavering stare. Put those things together and your scared-looking human being looks just like another dog saying “bring it on tough guy.” So no, dogs can’t sense your fear, but they can read your body signals. That’s why a dog that is afraid of you, or frustrated with you or confused by you is waiting for YOU to determine if there will be a conflict. Like I said, no one wants to start the fight, but most dogs with aggressive tendencies will happily accept your invitation to rumble is provided a chance. Most dogs will gladly back down if you know how to diffuse the start of a conflict. Again, just like in business - conflict resolution goes a long way!

As the wild-eyed black tongued beast lunged for me today, I knew to turn and face away from him, giving him the “skinny” side view of me. I diverted my eyes, dropped my head and took a nice deep breath. I felt his teeth hit my skin, but with the most ginger of touch. I dropped the leash to avoid making him feel like I was trying to confine him. Then, after giving me a nice swift warning to say “I’ve had enough of you” he walked away. Literally 5 minutes later, after the food item he was trying to guard was removed from the picture, he wanted to lick my face.

Moral of the story? Next week I’m putting a muzzle on him during training, just in case. And, today his people came away with a better understanding of why he acst the way he does and that it’s nothing personal and they should stop feeling as if they did something terribly wrong to screw him up. They didn’t do it on purpose, no one does when it comes to food guarding behaviors. And me? My heart raced for a good 20 minutes after the incident --which grounded me and reminded me that you can NEVER be too careful when working with dogs. I was also thankful that this dog knew exactly what he was doing, and exactly what he was trying to communicate. So thank you, dog, for not biting me today.

Why get bitten when you can get injured by a leash!

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:10:56 -0500

You never really realize how useful your fingers are until you can’t use one. And, out of all of the fingers, having an injured index finger (or thumb for that matter!) is probably more debilitating than having a broken pinky finger.

In the five years I’ve been a professional dog trainer, I have only been bitten by one dog. Oddly enough, it was a 15 week old husky-lab mix puppy. He actually aggressively snapped at my hand while I was demonstrating how he should be gently restrained for grooming/nail trimming, and me being about 50x his size wasn’t about to back down to this little fur ball, so, I refused to let him go. Well, he refused to let me get away with not letting him go so he bit through my tennis shoe and put a few puncture wounds in my toe. Needless to say, I told his owners that they had a serious issue on their hands if their puppy was already displaying this level of aggression. After that lesson, I never heard from them again. It may have been the only client that I may have “offended” --but I wouldn’t be surprised if their 15 week old hush puppy is now a 75 pound liability.

But, my current injury has nothing to do with aggressive dogs, or dog teeth for that matter. Yesterday, while volunteering with some Paws 4 You dogs which were featured on Despierta America, the dog I was holding suddenly lunged, catching me off guard. You see, here’s the thing about being a dog trainer: when I’m not training, I’m just your regular unsuspecting bystander! I can’t always be on.... so naturally Iet my guard down around dogs that I know are friendly, safe, etc. So I’m holding the leash, probably not paying attention attempting to drink my cup of Starbucks coffee since it was “freezing” outside (freezing is subjective since I am, after all, in Miami), when the dog I’m holding lunges out after a toy that had been thrown on the ground by another person on set. The leash was wrapped around all of my fingers (stupid, stupid!) as I clenched them together to stay warm. Well, needless to say my index finger flew backwards, entangled, along with the dog. Intense pain followed --but then again I am a pretty big wuss when it comes to pain. I have about a zero pain tolerance, and tend to whine when I’m hurt. So, after that I had to suck it up and smile even though my finger started to swell and was throbbing. But, I made it through, lol, and am still alive today.

I have to commend first aid...as it’s come a long way since the last time I sustained a finger injury (who knows when!?). Check the picture out ---yup, it’s a ice pack just for your finger! So, today I trained to dogs and mustered through the throbbing finger for the sake of breaking treats into tiny pieces. And, right before writing this (which requires use of the finger, ouch!) I did a good icing.

And on that note, no matter how many precautions we as dog trainers take -- from closed toed shoes to making sure clients always leash their own dogs before we start work, you never know when you’ll be caught off guard and injured... all in the name of love and working with dogs!!

I’m a little lady, he’s a big dog. what’s your point?

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:32:45 -0500

Since this is officially my first blog post of my new dog blog, let me first ring you up to speed as to who Romeo is. Romeo is a 2 year old Pit Bull Terrier who ended up with Paws 4 You Rescue when one of our volunteers rescued him from a crack house. Yup, you heard me. Crack house, as in, the people were drug dealers selling who knows what to who knows who, Romeo was tied up outside on a chain to protect the property --a totally stereotypical gangsters and their mean looking dog situation. Physically scared from two years outdoor wear and tear, Romeo made a pretty lousy guard dog seeing as how he is super friendly. This guy is lucky to have no serious emotional scars, although due to his lack of socialization as a puppy, like many dogs (Pit or not) Romeo is animal aggressive. Being that he is a pit, he isn’t the kind of dog you’d want to take home to “try” and see if he would get along with your baby or your other pets. Lack of socialization means that Romeo is destined to be the only pet --but he would be quite happy with that! After successfully killing a cat and almost a squirrel, it’s pretty obvious this guy has a serious prey drive. So what makes me so sure he’s not “aggressive?” Well, aggressive animals don’t just kill and hold. By that, I mean that when they grab another animal --if they’re not aggressive they just grab it, hold it, and sadly the animal either suffocates or it’s neck is snapped. Once the animal is dead, the dog drops it as if to say “what happened? why did this fun toy stop moving?” And aggressive animal would strike, shake, and lord knows what else in the name of actually trying to do as much damage to you as possible. So, with that said, Romeo is none of those things --which is why he’s so wonderful around people. Sorry Mr. Squirrel.

So, long story short, Paws 4 You is has permission to keep Romeo as long as he’s boarded securely (at a vet clinic) and is laced outside of Miami Dade county. Although I do plenty of pro-bono work for Paws 4 You, Romeo is being sponsored by the woman who rescued him so he is a paid client, who will work with me 3x a week until he finds his forever home.

After two weeks of getting to know my lover loaf, Romeo, I felt confident to take him out in public ti evaluate how he handles crowds. I had no doubt he’d be friendly, but I wanted to evaluate if he would become over excited, jumpy, lunging to lick people as we walked along a path. Because at this point I’m not ready to evaluate him around other dogs, I decided to take him to a dog free zone which is coincidentally my favorite place on earth -- the University of Miami. Romeo was so excited to get in the car, and thoroughly enjoyed hanging his big ol head out the window for our drive up US1. Several people slowed down to gawk at him, and one guy actually yelled from his car that I had a gorgeous dog.

I must admit I was a bit nervous when I finally arrived on campus and unloaded romeo from the car. Not because I was afraid of him or my ability to control and train him in a new environment, but more so because I thought about how scared my mom would be if she saw a dog like Romeo walking down the street! Let’s face it. As sweet as he is, Pits have a bad rap! And, because of Romeo’s coloration (brindle) and those piercing amber eyes, if you didn’t know better he looks scary to a non dog person. MY heart started to race as I walked him along the sidewalk. But, as time went on, I saw one person smile at him in his red “adoption donations” vest for every person who moved as far away as they could from the sidewalk we were on. As I started to smile at people, they stopped to ask me about him. I was quite impressed that by the end of the day Romeo raised himself $21! Not every dog in our rescue pays for their own kennel costs --that’s talent!

Overall, it was a great afternoon. We spent a little over an hour on campus, visiting a few personal friends in various offices. He got petted, jumped up and hugged one unsuspecting girl, and made friends with a family who said they grew up wit h a pit that looked just like him.

And in answer to the questions that I did get from one person (there’s one in every crowd?) “but isn’t he really strong? Isn’t he a pit? Aren’t you afraid he’ll try to bite you if he gets mad? Shouldn’t someone stronger be walking him?”......Yes. Yes. No, and No. I may be short and girly, but I can take you and your big dog today, and any day, because all I need is a positive attitude and a passion for changing people’s perception when it comes to canine behavior.